Ron provides a vast wealth of knowledge and experience as a resource for his clients. If asked, clients would report that they are completely comfortable that Ron will present them with creative and legally sound options to their issues and then follow through on executing the agreed-upon plan promptly and thoroughly. His accomplishments include:
Estate Planning & Trust - Ron has handled numerous estate plans where he was able to help families minimize estate and gift taxes through appropriate planning. He also has a great track record of facilitating the transfer of assets, such as land and small businesses, free of taxes. Ron was also instrumental in setting up a special needs trust for a family with a disabled child so that family members could gift the child money and/or property without endangering his eligibility for benefits in the future.
Probate & Estate Tax Issues - Ron has handled various audits by the IRS relating to estate tax returns. His successes in this area include sustaining discounts of minority interests in farms and businesses and resolving issues related to the valuation of such interests in property and split interest ownerships.
Real Estate Transactions - Ron has helped hundreds of people buy and sell real estate including commercial property, farms and homes. In the '70s and '80s, Ron successfully handled a number of large Housing & Urban Development closings that entailed completing vast amounts of paperwork and overcoming bureaucratic red tape. Also, Ron was primary counsel in litigation resulting in a termination of a lifetime crop share farm lease procured by a grandson from his grandmother under unusual circumstances.
Banking - As well as serving as the president of a bank for several years, Ron has a rich background in the legal aspects of banking. Ron was the lead attorney for an individual bank officer in a proceeding initiated by the US Comptroller of Currency. In that case, the Comptroller asserted that an individual member of the bank board had strict liability for loans extended by the bank in excess of the legal lending limit of the bank. Ron prepared and argued the case in the hearing and subsequently before the Federal Appellate Court. The Appellate Court held that the individual board members were not strictly liable in the case at question; the individual members would only be liable if the Comptroller could prove that they had actual knowledge of and participated in extending such a loan.
Other Cases - Ron represented a school district that had suspended two students who only had 3 days left in the school year for alcoholic beverage consumption on a school bus. As a result of the suspension, the students were unable to take some of their final exams and, thus, prevented from graduating with their classmates. Ron argued the case for the school district and was successful in getting both the US District Court and the Federal Appellate Courts to rule that the suspensions of the students would stand.
Previous Professional Experience:
Sweeny Dodd et. al., Detroit, MI, Law Clerk, 1967
Hershey Beavers Periard et. al., Taylorville, IL, Partner, 1969-1997
Mercantile Bank of Illinois, Matoon, IL, President, 1997-1999
Civic Participation:
St. Vincent's Hospital, Taylorville, IL
-Board of Directors
Sarah Bush Memorial Hospital, Mattoon, IL
-Board of Directors
Set up Charitable Foundation for School Districts (Taylorville, Kincaid, IL)
Set up Charitable Foundation for Taylorville YMCA
Set up Charitable Foundation for Mental Health Association of Christian County
Taylorville Savings & Loan Association
-Board of Directors
First Trust & Savings Bank
-Board of Directors
United Fund
-President, 1975-1976